Another level for A's

Published 4:00 am, Monday, June 29, 1998

The A's have spent the last couple of months trying to demonstrate they have the ability to run off a bunch of wins in a row. But an exhilarating victory will be followed by a dispiriting defeat. And the pattern keeps repeating.

After losing twice at home against the Giants, the A's pulled out a pair of gut-check victories over their Bay Area rivals at Candlestick. That sent them here on a high.

Only they lost the series opener against the Rockies convincingly. So much for the boost the team got in San Francisco.

Saturday night, everyone was up again after Ben Grieve's three-run home run in the ninth capped a late rally.

But Sunday, in the series finale, miserable defense and equally atrocious work by the bullpen was enough to doom the A's to an 11-10 getaway loss to the Rockies.

Up. Down. Up. Down.

"It's a lot of lack," designated hitter Kevin Mitchell said.

What?

"It's people going out there lacking, being lazy about stuff, instead of going out there and bearing down," he explained. "It seems like every time we score runs, teams come back and score four more runs. You can't let that happen. At least stop a man. Go out there and shut them down."

There's no question that the A's would be better if the bullpen was more consistent this season. Saturday night, the relievers did the job. Because they did, the offense was able to rally and win.

The next afternoon, after Oakland scored four times in the top of the seventh to take a 9-6 lead, the bullpen allowed Colorado to score five times in the bottom half.

But this latest defeat wasn't only the 'pen's fault. In the decisive seventh, Rickey Henderson overran the pickup of a single, turning it into a two-base error, an extra run scoring on the misplay. Earlier, in the fourth, after the A's scored four times, a pair of errors (by Miguel Tejada and A.J. Hinch) began what would turn out to be a three-run inning for the Rockies, who went ahead again, 6-5.

Up. Down. Up. Down.

Tejada definitely isn't killing the A's. The defense is better overall since he took over for Kurt Abbott. Still, the error Sunday was his ninth in 29 games.

"I figure he's going to make 25 (this season)," infield coach Ron Washington said. "You've just got to put up with what he's doing right now. I don't think his errors are hurting us. And a bunch of them were in a couple of games. They don't bother me."

Art Howe isn't going to point fingers. That's not his style. Anyway, it wouldn't be fair to single out one player or group.

"We're not consistent enough in all phases of the game," Howe said. "Like the defense today. The pitching's bad at times, but if we make all the plays defensively, it doesn't matter, we're still going into the bottom of the ninth with a two- or three-run lead.

"But that's part of it. The defense goes some times. The pitching goes other times. We're just not consistent enough in all departments."

Howe and Mitchell agree that some of this is because of the team's youth. Tejada and Hinch are rookies.

But Henderson definitely isn't. And neither is Mike Fetters (0-2), who came in in the seventh after T.J. Mathews stunk it up, only to give up a couple more hits, eventually winding up the loser when his replacement, Mike Mohler, threw a fat pitch Todd Helton hit for a two-run home run.

"It's baseball," Fetters said. "I feel like I'm throwing the ball halfway decent. I'm giving up bloopers here, groundballs there. I've said it before, I'd rather be lucky than good. I have no luck right now."

What's happening to the A's this season is not unique. It's the reality of baseball in the '90s, the huge gulf between the few haves and the many have-nots.

"There's only a couple of teams in both leagues who are strong enough to continue to go out there and put up W's," Howe said. "The rest of us don't have the talent level to consistently put W's together." &lt;